The need for reflection in life can often be incredibly important. I realise now, as I am older (and a little wiser) that being able to reflect is a fantastic skill to carry with you at work, in your personal like and when interacting with others. It can enable you to understand where you need to channel you energy, your focus and helps you to improve. This skill needs to be taught to students as soon as they enter secondary school.

Here at my current school, we call it DIRT – Dedicated Improvement and Reflection Time. This gives students the opportunity to understand how they could improve and gives them confidence in the areas which they do well in. Often we use this after tests/assessments and also when completing the marking of their classwork, and of course, homework.

On Friday 3rd November my University observation was scheduled. This happened to fall on a day when it was fundamental I went through DIRT with the students; they had assessments which I had marked and needed to feedback to them. It just so happens that I would be reflecting with the students whilst reflecting on myself and my teaching progress. This made me incredibly nervous. However, I have found, in my short time teaching, that the process of reflection will be how I will go from a good teacher to hopefully one day an outstanding teacher.

I explained the importance of DIRT to the students. I told them how it is an important skill, to be able to reflect. They respond, complete the sheets and I am pleased. Who knows if they really do know how to understand their individual strengths and weaknesses. Only through implementing DIRT and ensuring it is an integral part of the feedback process will the students feel confident in using the skill. It would be even better if (EBI!!!!) we could be sure that students would then carry this skill with them through their lives. Into the workplace, and their personal life. We wont know, but as teachers, as we reflect on our own teaching, we can only hope that we have given them the ability to understand the complexities of recognising strength and weakness, and what to do as a follow up.

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As I then reflected on their reflections, I recognised my own areas needing improvement:
TS 7 – managing behaviour effectively and TS 5 – differentiating and ensuring students are stretched and challenged where appropriate.

I have come to love a reflection. I have grown to enjoy knowing what went wrong more than what went right! This way I can continually improve and evolve, getting stronger and stronger.